Business and Economics Department

Mission Statement

The Department of Business and Economics works toward developing effective decision-makers and leaders in both the private and public sectors through a strong practical business education as well as a comprehensive liberal arts education. Academic programs instill excellence, build confidence, and develop strong leadership skills that graduates can use throughout their careers.

Degrees

Course Descriptions

Advanced study of organizations, the impact of human factors and management principles, and organization development is used to direct and manage change. Course is designed to build one's understanding of the theories and concepts for managing human behavior in organizations. Focus on case analysis and class exercises. Prerequisites: BUS 380.

The changing relationships of humans to the natural environment; changes in dominant scientific perspectives and the process of scientific debate. The quest for understanding, manipulating, and dominating the natural world. Cultural and organizational structures; the role and impact of technology; the systems approach to problem solving and its implications for the future.

Document and project internal and external costs resulting from the inseparability of the natural, social and economic environments. Assess sustainability issues using basic modeling techniques; cause and effect, root cause analysis, regression analysis and business scenario based cases.

The Law and Ethics regarding sustainability of Economic development and emerging environmental challenges at national and international levels; including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Carbon Footprints, Kyoto protocol, and Brundtland Commission. The policy and role of government and its agencies such as Army Corps of Engineers; Department of Interior, etc., in building a more just, prosperous, and secure environmental common future.

Understand the economy as a component of the ecosystem within which it resides, with natural capital added to the typical analysis of human, social, built, and financial capital. Explore traditional micro, macro, and international trade theory and policy and the implications of sustainability. Topics include: history of economic systems and thought; globalization and localization; distinguishing between growth and development; the nature and causes of market failure; consumption, consumerism, and human well-being; emerging markets; technological change; business organization and financial market alternatives; demographic change; and the global food economy.

Explore how the built environment came to be and the intersection of human needs: water, air, food, water, waste, transportation, healthcare and education. Evaluate community design: what does a sustainable community look like? Study related technologies and evaluate alternatives, discuss unintended consequences. Course will include case studies.

An examination of decision making and public policy for sustainability at the national, state, and local level, with emphasis on the social, economic, political factors affecting decisions within both the public and private sectors. Attention is given to formal American policy making processes, informal grassroots activities and consensus building, public engagement with sustainability decisions, corporate sustainability actions and reporting, the promise of public-private partnerships and collaborative decision making, and practical examples of how decision making fosters effective transitions to sustainability goals at all levels.

Corporate social responsibility and an organization. Evaluation of risks and potential impacts in decision making recognizing the links between the success of an organization and the well being of a community. Integrating corporate social responsibility throughout an organization, creating metrics and communicating CSR policies internally and externally. Development of best practices in an organization pertaining to corporate social responsibility.

Planning, organizing and controlling the organization's supply chain is examined in context of the triple bottom line. Total cost analyses or product and process life cycles are considered in the context of strategy and operations. Topics include: sourcing, operations, distribution, reverse logistics and service supply chains. Process measurements and the impact on organizational performance in the context of footprints (e.g. carbon, water, pollution). Discussion of existing and potential software systems.

This course addresses practical applications of sustainability in aquatic environments. Topics covered include water and health, water quality and quantity, governance, assessing the aquatic environment, water treatment technologies, environmental mitigation, and impacts of climate change. Emphasis will be on selected areas of interest from the perspective of public health, engineering, and municipal conservation management.

Topics include the generation, processing, management and disposal of municipal, industrial and agricultural waste with an emphasis on the technical, economic and environmental aspects of various recovery processes. Additional topics will include producer responsibility, design for environment and life cycle analysis.